Constantine II, the last king of Greece who came to the throne in 1964 as a young monarch celebrating an Olympic gold medal in sailing but whose reign ended three years later when he fled into exile after clashes with a military junta, died January 10 in a hospital in Athens. He was 82.
A statement from Hygeia Hospital said the former king suffered a stroke and complications from other health problems.
He was the last ruler in the 19th century Family dynasty whose ties to Greece were tenuous but which attempted to derive legitimacy from connections to the broader family tree of European kings.
Residing in London for decades, he was a cousin of King Charles III, a godfather to Prince William and part of the extended family line of Greek-born Prince Philip. The former king traveled under a Danish passport as Constantine de Grecia as his family was linked to a branch of the Danish royal family – in addition to his marriage to a former Danish princess, Ann-Marie. His sister Sophia is the wife of former King of Spain Juan Carlos.
But for Greeks, it remained deeply woven into the history of the 1967-1974 right-wing dictatorship, whose ruthless suppression of the opposition still lingers as unpleasant memories in the country’s political and cultural life.
Events began in 1965 when the young king fell out with Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou, leading to the collapse of his government. The political crisis – still known in Greece as “apostasy” – ushered in a period of upheaval and transitional governments.
“People don’t want you, take your mother and go!” Protesters shouted denounce the king and his mother, Queen Frederica, in 1965.
The ongoing political unrest was used as justification by a clique of Greek military officers to take control of the country April 1967. The “Colonels,” as they were known, also feared that the King was planning pre-emptive measures to bring his supporters to power.
Cornered, he agreed to formally install the junta as the new Greek leadership. The king and his family then moved to northern Greece to lead a counter-coup. Plans failed and the family fled to Rome and later settled in London.
Stylianos Pattakos, last surviving member of Greek junta’s ‘Colonel’, dies aged 103
“It was the worst day of my life,” he described leaving Greece in a 2015 memoir published by the Greek newspaper To Vima. “That day I saw my first white hair.”
Some officers of the Hellenic Navy remained loyal to him and made another attempt at revolt against the junta in 1973. The military rulers abolished the monarchy – although he continued to claim that he was the rightful monarch of Greece.
Junta leader George Papadopoulos called the former king “a collaborator with foreign forces and with assassins.”
After the collapse of the dictatorship in 1974 – following a military crisis with Turkey over Greek attempts to unite with the island nation of Cyprus – he attempted a dramatic return. Political leaders advised him to wait, fearing he would disrupt efforts to restore democracy. Instead, a referendum was held on the return of the monarchy.
On the eve of the vote, the ex-king appeared confident. The result “will find my family and I at home,” he said from London. However, almost 70 percent of the votes cast were against a reestablishment of the royal family. Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis was quoted as saying that voters had rid the nation of a cancer.
The former king only returned to Greece in 1981 after receiving permission for a five-hour visit to bury his mother in the family cemetery of the former royal palace in Tatoi, north of Athens. (The Greek government announced that the remains of the former king would also be buried there.)
From London, the former king used his royal title and claimed ownership of family lands in Greece, including Tatoi. In 1994, the Greek government officially revoked his citizenship and confiscated royal property.
A lawsuit he brought before the European Court of Human Rights resulted in a prize money of 12 million euros – far less than the 500 million euros he was asking for. In 1995, he boasted to Vanity Fair that he received 65,000 letters a year from Greek citizens and needed four employees to run his affairs.
His life in exile was anything but bumpy. He associated with other members of European royalty, who often called him “Your Majesty”. He and his wife lived in a mansion in the London suburb of Hampstead Garden. When the British royals hosted a gala, he was on the guest list.
When Athens hosted the Olympic Games in 2004, he returned as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee. However, the performance was deliberately muted at organizers’ request, despite his stature as a former Olympic medalist.
At the 1960 Rome Games, the then Crown Prince was part of the gold medal-winning team in the three-person Dragon class sailing. He was also the standard-bearer at the opening ceremonies in Rome, and a Greek postage stamp was made to honor his team’s victory.
In an interview with NBC’s Today during the Athens Olympics, the former king called Greece “his country.”
“I remember having the privilege of holding the flag when our team came in,” he said of the Rome Games, “and the roar of the crowd was something that still rings in my ears.”
For more than a decade, he increasingly spent time in Greece while the authorities took precautions and protests against his presence largely died down. He also made some slight concessions. He later realized that the time of the monarchy in Greece was long gone.
On his official website he was listed as King Constantine, former King of the Hellenes.
The future king was born on June 2, 1940 in Athens to Princess Frederica of Hanover and Prince Paul, younger brother of the Greek King George II and heir to the throne.
Before Prince Constantine’s first birthday, the family fled to Alexandria, Egypt when the Nazis occupied much of the country. The family later spent time in South Africa before returning to Greece in 1946 – just as the country was moving into a disastrous civil war between communist-backed forces and nationalists, many of whom were loyal to the monarchy.
The nationalist side won, but political rifts remained strong for decades, leading to divided views of the monarchy – which some critics described as an outsider with family ties to wartime enemy Germany.
The prince was educated at boarding schools and military academies in preparation for the throne. It was his turn in 1964 when he was 23, following the death of his father, King Paul. (The family had ruled Greece since 1863, except from 1924 to 1935).
The last king of Greece is survived by Anne-Marie, his wife of 58; five children, Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos; and nine grandchildren.
His ancestry goes back to the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which includes Denmark and other countries. However, he refused to take any of those names after the Greek government said he could only have his passport restored if he took a surname.
“I have no name,” he said in London in 1995. “My family has no name.”
Glücksburg is the name of a place, he remarked, as is every borough of London.
“I might as well call myself Mr. Kensington,” he said.